Snapshots
by Out of My Grasp
Summary: While in the practice room, Austin and Ally stumble on a box of pictures. Most are of them, in their most private, personal moments. They walk over the path of their friendship again, and they wonder, could they be more? Just some fluff I needed to get out of my system...


**Disclaimer: Me no own Austin & Ally. Should be pretty obvious, anyway.**

**So in this fic, Auslly isn't a couple yet, and Kira hasn't gone and created this huge mess either. I tried to keep it as close as possible to the show, so let me know how I did. :D**

**On another note, the POV switches between Austin's and Ally's after each memory. Just wanted to let you know to reduce confusion…**

* * *

The morning sun stung my eyes as I slowly woke up. I got up from the beanbags and quickly shut the curtains. I really wasn't a morning person.

A groan came from the other side of the room. I glanced over at the piano, knowing that Austin would have passed out there again. His head rested on the keys, the rest of his body slumped over on the piano bench. He looked so much like a little puppy that I almost didn't want to wake him up. Almost.

I grabbed the set of cymbals we used for this occasion and brought them together with a satisfying clang. I watched as his eyes flew open in a panic and he fell off the piano, taking the bench with him.

"Good morning," I said sweetly. He threw me an evil look before grinning and stretching out.

"1-0, Ally," he blankly stated, clearly disgruntled. I stuck my tongue out at him, then leaned over to clean up the contents of the bench.

"Hey, what's this?" I asked, picking up a cardboard box labeled "Moments". He shrugged nonchalantly and watched me open the box. Inside was a stash of photos so huge, Big Mama would be jealous.

"Pictures?" we said at the same time. One awkward glance, then back to normal. I shuffled through them. There were a few of Team Austin as a whole, but most of them were of just me and Austin. Laughing. Hanging out. Writing a song. Most of them were shots of moments we thought were private. And the awkward geese keep piling up.

He grabbed the one at the top of the pile. "Hey, this one's from last summer!"

* * *

_The corndogs left some serious grease stains on the drumset. I groaned. It would take forever to clean those off._

_ I started working at one of the spots, but it decided not to come off. I scrubbed at it harder. Still no progress. I threw the rag down in disgust. Another hand picked it up and started working on the other stain. I looked up to see Austin's face. He gave me a smile, which I easily returned. I grabbed another rag and got back to work on the first grease mark. _

_No words were exchanged. We didn't need them._

* * *

"Remember that?" she said, clearly enjoying the memory. I only smiled in response, then pulled out the next photo. We were laughing on the floor, dirty curtains surrounding us.

* * *

_I tugged at the tight cloth wrapped around my arm. Nope, still stuck. I groaned and returned to watching the second hand tick. Someone had to come soon. The circulation in my left leg was cut off. Or was it my right? See? I'm so tangled up I can't even tell._

_Luckily, Ally walked through the door just then. _

"_Oh, my God!" she cried, dropping her bag by the door. "What did you do?"_

_I managed a sheepish grin. "It's actually a pretty funny story," I stammered out. She gave me a look, which I took as a signal to continue. "Well, you see, I was really disappointed that I couldn't swing in on a jungle vine at Trish's quinceanera," I explained, "so I decided to try it out here instead." One look at her face and I quickly added, "Probably not one of my better ideas."_

_She rolled her eyes. "Let's just get you out of there," she said, starting to pull at the curtain closest to her._

_It took ten minutes to get me untangled. Finally, there was only one piece of cloth around my legs. She gave it a sharp tug, spinning me off my feet. I, of course, grabbed her hand and brought her down with me. We collapsed on the floor in a wave of laughter. _

_Even though I spent 5 hours in that cocoon, it was worth it to be there with her._

* * *

"You really were being a bit of an idiot there, though," I said pointedly.

He raised his hands in surrender. "I get it, I get it. I was stupid. You made me sign a contract that said I would never do that again. Now get to the next one."

* * *

_The stars were covered up with clouds. This really wasn't what I pictured this camping trip to be, but we needed the new myTAB. _

_I turned my head and had a look at my fellow campers. Trish was motionless, like she had been all night. Dez was curled up around his camera, mumbling something about being the mouse king. That boy has some issues. _

_Then I looked at the person right next to me. I jumped when I heard a voice saying, "Can't sleep either?"_

"_Not really," I told Austin. I leaned back and stared at the sky._

_He readjusted his pillow and turned to face me. "Penny for your thoughts." _

_I took a breath and replied, "Just kinda wish the stars were out. I used to watch them a lot with my mom when I was younger. Back then, she didn't have to leave as much for her work, so I got really close to her. I was six when she left for Africa the first time."_

"_Oh." _

"_She knew she wouldn't be there when I got scared at night, so she told me to look up and look for the Milky Way. She said that it was the sheet music of the skies, and the stars were the notes. She said that whenever I felt sad, or alone, to look up and try to hear those notes, and everything would be all right."_

"_Do you feel sad or alone?" he asked gently._

_I propped myself up on one elbow and looked directly at him. "Of course not. I've got you guys here. I'm never going to be alone."_

_We shared a smile. There was silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of us wanted to break the moment._

_He was the first to crack. He slipped a small piece of metal into my hand. "Gotta pay up, don't I?"_

_I smiled and I glanced back down at the penny. 1996. Something told me this one was lucky._

"_You cold?"_

"_A little bit, yeah."_

_He took his extra blanket and wrapped it around me, and I didn't feel so cold anymore._

* * *

I smiled at that memory. She smiled back and I thought I saw something in her eyes. Then she shook it off and moved on.

* * *

_It was a week after my album release party. It was awesome being able to kick back and not worry about anything. What's even better is that Ally was sitting right at the piano, and not in some classroom in New York. We were lazily plucking random notes, not knowing what else to do. The store was near closing time, and it had been a slow day anyway. The radio was softly playing, the summer wind drifting in through the open door. Trish had left for home, and Dez had disappeared a long time ago. There was nobody but us in the store._

_The radio started playing "Break Down the Walls", and it was like being hit by electricity. Ally jumped up and reached it in one step, immediately turning it up. I was there a heartbeat later, and we spent a few seconds listening to my voice spilling out from it. _

_Without any warning, I grabbed her hand and started swinging her around. I don't know what happened, but it felt natural. Right, almost. She tried to protest, but she was swept up into the tune and just gave in. I could hear her laughing, and I could feel me doing the same. It was unexplainable, and I didn't want it to end. But eventually, it did._

"_Sorry about that," I said as soon as the last bars disappeared._

"_Austin Monica Moon, don't you ever do that again!" she cried out, hitting me half-heartedly, trying not to smile. "You know I can't dance, and unless you want another sprained leg, don't you ever surprise me like that!" Then a huge laugh escaped her, and I knew that no matter what she said, she enjoyed it as much as I had._

* * *

"We seriously need to do that more often," he said. I looked at him in mock disbelief, but we both knew that it was true. It had caught me off guard, but it wasn't bad. Not bad at all.

He gestured for me to move on to the next one, and I snapped out of it. The picture itself was almost unbelievable, because it involved Austin studying.

* * *

"_C'mon, Austin, it's not that hard," I said, exasperated. I had agreed to help him bring his grades up, and I was mostly successful, but physics seemed to be his weak point. _

"_I just don't get it," he complained. "How am I supposed to keep Newton's Laws straight all while remembering all these other formulas?"_

_I took a breath. "Um, let's just start with Newton's Laws." He nodded his assent and motioned for me to continue._

_I turned to the page in his textbook. "So, Newton's First Law says that objects at rest stay at rest, and objects in motion continue in a straight line until an unbalanced force acts on it. Can you remember that?" I asked him._

_He shrugged. "I just don't see how it's so important. I only try to remember the things that are especially important, so I can save space for the stuff that counts."_

"_But this stuff does count!" I cried standing up and waving my arms. "Physics is the stuff that makes ordinary life possible! It's the reason you can dance instead of slipping all over the place. It's the reason we can write the songs you sing every day. It's the reason the cars we drive move in the first place."_

_He looked scared at my outburst. I crumpled and sat back down. "I'm sorry, Austin, work was absolute chaos today, and seeing as it's," I paused to look at the clock, "11:43, I'm not exactly in the best mood."_

"_Hey, it's alright," he said. "Look, you go home and rest up. I can close up the store and study by myself."_

"_No, I made a commitment to helping you out in school," I began, but he cut me off._

"_A commitment you won't be able to keep if you keep doing this," he said gently. He pulled me off the bench and led me to the door. "You are going home, you are going to relax, you are going to sleep a full 8 hours tonight, okay?"_

"_Just promise me you'll try to study for that quiz tomorrow," I said, shouldering my bag as I prepared to leave. _

"_I will. You can count on me."_

_To be honest, I didn't think he would. Which was why I couldn't believe he got an A on that quiz. _

"_How…What…oh my God, you did it," I exclaimed, launching myself into his arms. He eagerly returned my hug. When I pulled away, his smile lit up his face brighter than the lights of Miami._

"_To be honest, I almost didn't make it," he explained. "That is, until I figured out a way to remember Newton's Laws."_

_We sat down on a bench as he continued. "For his first law, I remembered that at the beginning of last summer, I was right on a path to owning a mattress store when I grew up. That was what my parents expected me to do, and since I didn't have a chance in the music industry, I really had no choice." He took my hand. "But because I met you, and I stole your song, and all that other stuff that happened, I'm living my dream. I'm a completely different path, and I like where this one's going." He dropped my hand, much to my disappointment, but he wasn't finished. Spreading his arms wide, he said, "I don't know how I can thank you for all of this. You gave me the one in a bazillion chance I needed, and that's what makes you the most awesome person I know."_

* * *

We stayed silent at that one. For a second, there was something there, and I don't know if either of us wanted to point that out. On one hand, we could be happy together. But if anything goes wrong, if it doesn't work, it would ruin everything.

"Um, oh look. What about this one?" I said, trying to break the wall of uncertainty that seemed to spring up between us.

* * *

_New York_ _gleamed from under me. Did I seriously just do that? Did I just play Times Square? I don't know if it was real, but if I was dreaming, I didn't want to wake up._

"_Hey," Ally said, appearing next to me. I gave her a smile and returned to watching the city. She joined me in my little bubble of silence. Her presence there was comforting. It tied me to reality. I wasn't dreaming. She was there, I was there, we were all there. I had just performed Times Square on New Year's Eve, and I could do anything._

"_Penny for your thoughts," she said softly, breaking the silence._

_I smiled again. "Just trying to wake up." _

_She pinched me, and said, "You're up."_

_I managed to stick out my tongue at her, then looked up. She followed my gaze, and we could see the stars above, reflecting the city spread out beneath us. _

"_Hey, look it's the Milky Way," I said, pointing out the stream of stars spilled across the sky._

"_You remember that?" she said, clearly surprised._

"_Of course," I replied. "I remember the stuff that matters."_

_We shared a look. She looked back up. "I've always wondered what song they would make, if we tried to play it," she whispered._

"_We can find out," I said, just as softly. The wind stole my words away, but I knew that she heard them, loud and clear._

_She took my hand and slipped something small into it. A 1996 penny. _

"_Gotta pay up, don't I?"_

* * *

There were so many pictures of us in there. Hugging. Singing. Getting ourselves into the worst situations possible. It was endless. But then I realized that we still didn't know where these came from

"Hey, who do you think took these?" I asked Austin.

He shrugged. He was about to say something else when we heard a disturbance at the door.

Trish and Dez stood there, frozen like ice statues.

"I think they found the pictures," Dez said in a stage whisper, clearly convinced we couldn't hear him.

Trish turned on him. "No, really?" she responded sarcastically. "They're holding them, you idiot."

I coughed, and they seemed to reassess the fact that we were in the room.

"Well, you see," Trish began, "we'd love to stick around and explain, but we're not here." And with that, the two of them ran out the door.

"Wow, can you believe them?" I said, turning around to face Austin. Our eyes met, and a flash of understanding passed between us.

"You circle around and cut them off in the food court! I'll chase after them!"

* * *

The next day, the cardboard box found itself in a new home: the back of the freezer. Its load had increased by one snapshot. In this one, two people stood, a stack of pictures in their hands. The two met eyes and said no words. They didn't need them.


End file.
